Fidelity is something we know from our everyday lives. We cannot
separate it from faith. In fact, we call fidelity faithfulness. So we
know what it means to be faithful to someone. Our fidelity is not
about our faith in others, but about their faith in us, and
faithfulness is keeping our promise to them and living up to their
trust.

We also know what faithlessness is. Some people here might be from
broken families. Some people here might have been betrayed by
friends. We know what it's like to break a promise and to let someone
down. That's sin. We know how it destroys things. We know how cheating
on someone destroys our relationship with them, even if they never
find out.

So we understand what Christian faith tells us about faithfulness, and
we understand why we need to pray for strength. Many people pray that
they are given the strength and the understanding to be more faithful
to other people, so they can be better friends, better children,
better people.

Fidelity is not being stubborn or thinking just one thing. The only
thing constant in life is change, and part of being faithful is
adapting to change, not forcing other people or yourself to stay the
same. We make mistakes, and we should learn from them.

We might not be aware of these mistakes. For example, racism might not
obvious to people who are racists. They think it's only natural.
Fidelity means recognizing that we shouldn't just do what we've always
done, but we should think about it carefully.

Very, very, very rarely, fidelity might even mean realizing that
you've made the wrong commitment. For example, you might be committed
to getting high grades, which is not a bad thing. But if you start
cheating just to keep up your grades, something is wrong. That is why
we need to periodically reexamine ourselves and our commitments.

That happens far less than another, more serious problem. Our problem
is that we give up too quickly. People break up over the smallest
things. People fight and separate for very selfish reasons. Fidelity
requires strength. It requires will. That's why we pray for the
strength to be better people - to be better sons and daughters, to be
better friends.

The bottom line is that fidelity is faithfulness, so we cannot talk
about fidelity without talking about faith. We're not just talking
about our faith in others, but also of their faith in us. This is why
you feel terrible when you backstab a friend or cheat on a spouse. You
have betrayed their trust. You have broken your promises. Sin is like
that. God has faith in us. He knows that we can be good people. When
we sin, we betray that trust. That's why we pray for the strength to
be faithful.